Man kills grandmother over suspicion of witchcraft practice

Palghar: A 62- year-old woman in Maharashtra’s Palghar district was allegedly killed by her grandson over suspicion that she practiced witchcraft on him, police said on Monday. The accused, Kailas Dangte, a resident of Yeshwant Nagar in Vikramgad taluka, believed that he was facing problems in life because of the witchcraft practiced by his grandmother and used to quarrel with her over it, they said.

According to an official at the district police control room, on Sunday the accused allegedly hit his grandmother with an axe several times and then fled from the house. The woman died on the spot, he added.

One of the family members alerted the police who rushed to the spot and investigated the crime scene. Later, the body was sent for postmortem. A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) and search is underway for the accused, he said. The policy booked him under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and also under sections of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.

Earlier, a similar incident took place in the month of April, A 29-year-old man was arrested from Jawhar in Palghar district for allegedly killing his 60-year-old aunt on suspicion that the “black magic” practiced by her was responsible for illness of his family members.

A death is reported every third day in modern India for witchcraft. India has seen killings of 2290 persons mostly women for practicing witchcraft. The crime of murder citing black magic and practicing witchcraft is mostly committed in Tribal areas which are not connected to main streams city. The tribal villagers believe in superstition, as they don’t have easy access to health care. They are uneducated with lowest literacy, child malnutrition and maternal mortality, the tribal communities have seen the maximum of such killings.